EIU, Lake Land Women Win, EIU, SIUE Men Fall

Wahl's phenomenal day, Morgan Litwiller shot 3 of 9 from beyond the arc and finished the game with 13 points, and recorded three blocks. Kira Arthofer finished up her day with 11 points, three steals, and four assists.

The Panthers will face one of the top teams in the OVC in UT Martin in Martin, Tenn. Thursday, Jan. 28, at 5 p.m.

QUICK STATS

Abby Wahl now has the second-most points in a game among active players (No. 1, Washington, 35 against Murray State).

Morgan Litwiller tied her career-high in assists with five.

Both teams recorded 16 turnovers; this is the first time this season the Panthers have had equal turnovers as their opponent.

The Panthers tied their season-high with 46 points in the half (SIUE 12/18)

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER

The Panthers and Tigers went back and forth in the opening quarter. The teams were nearly identical at the end of the first quarter, as both shot 54% from the floor, had two fouls, and recorded five assists.

The Panthers grabbed six rebounds, one more than the Tigers, and six turnovers, again, one more than the Tigers. Wahl was off to a hot start in the game with a team-high eight points. The Tigers led the Panthers, 19-17.

The Panthers came out gunning early on in the second; EIU scored six quick points and forced two turnovers. After a slow start from both teams out of the break, the Panthers started to find their rhythm. EIU out-rebounded the Tigers, 18-11 in the first half: a major factor in EIU's lead. Litwiller's back-to-back three-pointers pushed Eastern Illinois ahead as they headed into the locker room for halftime. Panthers led, 33-28.

Eastern Illinois came out of the half sluggish, and the Tigers took advantage. The Panthers scored only five points before the halfway point of the third quarter. Eastern Illinois turned it around after the timeout and went back to basics. The Panthers fed Wahl in the post, and she did not let the team down. She finished the quarter with 10 points and gave the Panthers the lead heading into the final quarter, 48-45.

The Panthers came out with everything clicking early in the fourth quarter. The Panthers went on an early 7-0 run to push the lead to 60-49 going into the media timeout. TSU could not stop Wahl as she finished with 34 points and shot 82% from the field. The Panthers leave Nashville with a big win against TSU as EIU outlasted the Tigers, 73-55.

Lake Land 72, Lincoln Trail 62

The Lake Land College women's basketball team claimed a 72-62 victory over Lincoln Trail.

Abigayle Weis tallied 22 points for the Lakers.

Tennessee State 65, EIU Men 54

NASHVILE – Eastern Illinois men’s basketball had only eight players available on Saturday afternoon at Nashville due to COVID-19 protocols as Tennessee State was able to use that to its advantage in a 65-54 win at the Gentry Center.  EIU fell to 5-10 on the season, 2-6 in the OVC as the Panthers featured their tenth different starting line-up in 15 games.

TSU improved to 3-10 overall, 2-8 in the OVC.  Eastern Illinois trailed for a majority of the game taking its only lead of the contest with 15:31 to play in the second half on a jumper by Marvin Johnson.

Johnson’s bucket gave EIU a brief 33-32 lead. Johnson led EIU with 16 points.

TSU responded with an 11-0 run as the Tigers blew open a close contest.  Henry Abraham would stop the TSU run with a 3-pointer with 10:33 remaining in the game.   Abraham joined Johnson in double figures with 12 knocking down four 3-pointers.

TSU shot 50 percent in the second half and 46.9 for the game. The Tigers won the battle on the glass by a 45-26 margin.  Yusef Mohamed led TSU with eight rebounds.  Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., led TSU with 15 points. EIU shot 32.8 percent for the game including 6-of-26 from 3-point range.   

Belmont 114, SIUE 62

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Belmont opened on a 13-0 run and never looked back, handing SIUE its first Ohio Valley Conference defeat, 114-62 Saturday at Curb Event Center.

"It was frustrating, because we came out on the first play and did a good job game-plan wise," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "We caused a turnover. The mentality at the start was good."

The Cougars fell to 2-1 in OVC play and 4-5 overall. Belmont is 10-0 in the OVC and 16-1 overall.

SIUE got as close as 13-5, before Belmont pushed the lead to double digits and never had less than a 10-point lead from that point forward. The Bruins had a 10-0 run and two other 9-0 runs in the first half.

"We didn't understand the speed at which they attacked and cut," Barone said. It wasn't as much that we didn't understand, it was more that we didn't react the right way.

"To their credit, they did it every single time for 40 minutes," Barone continued. "And we did not respond adequately at all."
Belmont led 56-22 at half, and continued to push the lead in the second half, ballooning the advantage to as many as 57. The Bruins connected on 61 percent of their shots, including 68 percent in the first half, and drained 17 of 31 (55 percent) three-point attempts. Belmont was 15-15 at the free throw line.

Luke Smith and Ben Sheppard each scored 18 points to lead the Bruins. Sheppard was 4-6 from three-point range.

"Some of the frustrating points were how we reacted to the difficult situations," Barone said. "And that is something we have to fix because we can fix that. We have to react better. We're going to learn."

The Cougars shot 42 percent from the field and were led by Iziah James in scoring. James scored a season-high 12 points on three triples and three free throws. Shamar Wright and Sidney Wilson each scored nine points. Courtney Carter scored eight points and added three assists.

"We're 2-1 in (in the OVC)," Barone said. "We came down here and we split on the road in Nashville. We did a little bit of what we wanted to do."

SIUE next plays on the road Tuesday at Eastern Illinois. Tipoff is 7 p.m.